Stories by The International Monetary Fund on Monday raised its growth forecast for China, but warned that rising debt, which has prompted concern about the country's finances, increases the risk of a sharper slowdown.

The world's second-largest economy should expand by 6.5 per cent this year, the IMF said in a report. That is up by 0.3 percentage points from the agency's last forecast in October.However, that growth is supported by heavy government spending and...